saspdhealth - Treatment of AIDS

AIDS Treatment
-there is still no cure for AIDS, but modern advances are helping people diagnosed to live longer and healthier

HIV Treatment

HIV multiplies very fast – the more HIV in your body, the weaker you are
- medications can help reduce the amount of HIV in your body, as well as slow down the replication of HIV

Patients with HIV each have their own treatment plans designed by their own doctors
- These are based on a count of your Helper T Cells, and your viral load (amt of HIV in bloodstream)

Three types of anti-HIV drugs:

Protease inhibitors – interrupt HIV replication / keeps it controlled for periods
Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) – interrupt HIV replication and delays infections in people with advanced HIV
Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) – interrupt HIV replication but they do not slow down the spread from cell to cell

HIV is a clever virus so it can change, or mutate, in order to survive
to combat this doctors use combination therapy (combo of drugs)

AIDS Treatment

people with AIDS are more open to developing other illnesses
they are also endangered by opportunistic infections (illnesses mild in a healthy person)
- doctors give immunization shots to prevent certain kinds of illnesses
- or Alpha interferon shots to raise the level of protein in the body

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